Review of A Drama Class’s Dream
VIU’s Malaspina Theatre recently put on its first play with a live audience since March 2020 with A Drama Class’s Dream. The performance, which ran from October 13-16, is Theatre professor Ross Desprez’s adaption of the play-within-a-play from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The play was a fun, fantastic, and whimsy return to live theatre—for both … Continued
Little Women: A Movie Review
What we’ve come to expect from Gerwig is attention to detail. From dialogue to costumes, from movement to lighting. There is no shortage of details to pick up on, no overlooking of a single, minute thing. Imperfections are rejoiced, spirits are lifted, and generations can find common ground in the humanity of the film.
Book Review: Goddessmode
By contributor Philip Gordon When I played role-playing video games as a kid, the characters I would make were all the same—game-appropriate, slightly better-looking versions of me. Video games were a power fantasy in a normal life of feeling ineffectual and useless, and watching my avatar complete grand quests I could never dream of navigating … Continued
The Poetry of Online Restaurant Reviews
What prompts people to take the time to write online restaurant reviews? I explored Google and TripAdvisor reviews of Nanaimo restaurants, and by my investigation, it’s either a superb dining experience or an awful one. Yes, there are people who report on mediocre calamari in so-so restaurants, but the majority of the detailed, lengthy reviews … Continued
Crimson Peak Movie Review: A love letter to gothic horror
By contributor Brendan Barlow “In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds…and remembers.” – via imdb.com I will declare my … Continued
Book Review: Room
The art of telling a very mature story with a child’s voice is one that holds a narrow ledge of success. Emma Donaghue’s Room stands proudly on that ledge. The narrative voice of Jack, a young boy that has lived his whole life in a shed, leads readers through this heart-wrenching page turner of a … Continued
Netflix and Chill: Whiplash
Whiplash lays out the line of passion and obsession then blatantly walks over it again and again throughout the film. Focusing on Andrew Neyman’s (Miles Teller) goal to rise to the top of Jazz music, the viewer gets an up close, and all too real view of blood, sweat, and tears shed for goals. Pair … Continued
Game Review: Never Alone
By Web Editor Antony Stevens Kisima innitchuna. Never alone. I have no idea if that’s an exact translation or a rough one, but that’s what Never Alone teaches me in its title screen. The game first intrigued me when it was announced as a narrative-driven adventure infused with the culture of the Iñupiat people, better … Continued
Movie review: Song of the Sea
By contributor Spencer Wilson The Academy Awards had a grotesque amount of disappointments this year, one being being the Best Animated Feature category. The absence of The Lego Movie was irritating given it was the only 3D animated film that utilized the animation style creatively and had something to say. Big Hero 6 is not … Continued
Album Review: The Duncan Symonds Trio–Bloom
By contributor Jennifer Garceau. Read the Nav’s interview with Duncan Symonds. A full disclaimer is in order here: when I first checked this album out and saw that one of the songs was titled after one of my favourite shows growing up, “Under the Umbrella Tree,” I was pretty determined to love this offering of … Continued
Album review: I Love You Honeybear by Father John Misty
By contributor Jennifer Garcea With glitter in his beard and performing on what ends up being a player piano, Father John Misty introduced the world to his single “Bored in the USA” from his new album I Love You, Honeybear on David Letterman. Replete with a full orchestra and finishing the performance with an impassioned … Continued